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Education United Kingdom United States

Taking a 'Gap Year' Before College Is a British Tradition That's Becoming a Big Trend In The US (qz.com) 256

Posted by msmash from the changing-patterns dept.
An anonymous user cites an article on Quartz: Today, many U.S. universities not only allow admitted students to take a year off before beginning their studies, but encourage it. In 2000, Harvard's admissions officers co-authored an article titled "Time Out or Burn Out for the Next Generation," in which they suggest admitted students combat the mounting pressures of secondary and post-secondary education (and modern life in general) by taking a year off. [...] The term "gap year" caught on in the US about a decade ago, when Prince William and Prince Harry took planned time off before entering university in the UK, according to Holly Bull, president of an independent agency called Interim Programs that helps US pre-college students plan their time off. Bull's father founded the agency in 1980 to promote the concept. "I've basically watched the trend grow from its inception in the U.S.," she says. "And while I wouldn't call it mainstream now, we've seen a lot of growth." This growth has led to a burgeoning "gap year" planning services industry, populated by an increasing number of consulting agencies such as Bull's. The American Gap Association (AGA), founded in 2012, oversees this industry, acting as a kind of accreditation agency. Based on the programs it reviews, the AGA estimates that between 30,000 and 40,000 students annually take a planned "gap year" in the U.S., and that the number of students doing this has grown by between 20% and 30% each year since 2006."The growing popularity of gap years speaks to a larger conversation in the US about what direction education is heading and how we help young people become thoughtful, caring citizens," Joe O'Shea, president of the AGA, says.
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Taking a 'Gap Year' Before College Is a British Tradition That's Becoming a Big Trend In The US More

Taking a 'Gap Year' Before College Is a British Tradition That's Becoming a Big Trend In The US

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  • There's a new tradition in the USA as well (Score:5, Insightful)

    by JoeyRox ( 2711699 ) on Tuesday May 03, 2016 @11:53AM (#52036555)
    It's called the post-graduation gap, as in having difficulty finding a job after you graduate, depending on what your area of study was.

    • But if you get into Grad school then you don't have to make any loan payments for the time you are in.

      • My wife had an aunt who basically spent her entire life attending college, going from degree program to degree program. She eventually died (she was in her 60s or 70s) with very little of her student loans paid off since she had been able to defer payments throughout most of her life.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Austerity Empowers ( 669817 )

      depending on what your area of study was.

      If your area of study won't get you a job, you either a) wasted money or b) don't need money that badly to begin with. You don't end up with a degree in klingon poetry by accident, decisions were made. This is something to research before plopping down a heap of bucks on college tuition or selecting a degree program.

      • So how should a student guarantee not wasting money? Even assuming that the first year of a four-year degree is general prerequisites that all majors share, it's not always feasible to predict with certainty which industries will be hiring 36 months after the second semester. The industry associated with your major could end up in a contraction like the buggy whip industry after the spread of automobiles, shrinking from serving horse-drawn transportation to serving the smaller market of Amish, theater, and

        • That is statistically unlikely, it happens, but if you make an informed decision and get good grades and truly understand the subject matter, you should be able to get a job. You can throw out 90-95% of degrees that almost certainly will go nowhere with incredible accuracy. If your degree ends with "of Arts", and you are expecting an ROI and/or need a job quickly after graduation, you are probably in trouble. This hasn't changed much in decades, if anything it has become even harder. Not to say if this is y

        • Something general, but with hard skills like a math or physics degree will get you into most jobs if you are motivated and learn a bit about a specific industry on your own (follow trade magazines is a start).

      • When banks are backing it some one who is better off in trades or some other thing ends up with a degree in klingon poetry and it's not by accident but that will be an 50-100K loan

    • It's called the post-graduation gap, as in having difficulty finding a job after you graduate, depending on what your area of study was.

      I believe your post is more sarcastic than insightful. The gap year is more for high school, undergrad, and in between. If you finished undergrad, it would be a different story...

    • Damn liberal arts majors!!!

  • The advice I give to college kids is to take your time. If you try to bust your ass to get done in 4 years*, you could lead to early burnout. I've never had an employer ask me why it took 5 years to graduate as opposed to 4.

    Going through it more slowly will give you more time to devote to the subject material, and possibly even work a part-time job. Getting out of school after 5 years with job experience is probably better than getting out in 4 without it.

    *barring any scholarship restrictions, etc.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by gfxguy ( 98788 )
      I took longer than that, but I didn't take a year off. I always made it a point to take an elective every semester that I wanted to - something outside the required classes, like art and music. I certainly don't regret it.

      • Ditto....although the minor in music I picked up didn't really help my job prospects much, it was definitely an experience I wouldn't want to give up.

        • Double ditto. There were all guys in my engineering classes. I took photography and social sciences to be with the opposite sex and have different conversations.

          The first two years are general education anyway. I saw no reason to put off the start. If I didn't attend, my part time job bosses would have had me work more hours anyway.

          It all worked out great.

          No way will I pay for a year of slackage for my kid.

          No way

    • I've never had an employer ask me why it took 5 years to graduate as opposed to 4.

      I don't disagree with this (or the rest of your post). But I'll offer a counterexample. I was able to finish in 3 years, and potential employers did take notice in a very positive way.

      Note that I'm not recommending doing this. While I enhanced my employability and minimized my total student debt (I was a poor kid at an expensive school), it came at a price.

      A gap year is a great idea, but in my case (1) I would have starved if I could have taken it, but (2) I couldn't have taken it because I would have immed

      • I was able to finish in 3 years, and potential employers did take notice in a very positive way.

        This is an excellent point. Obviously I'm not in that scenario, but this is something that stands out when I interview prospective employees.

    • In some schools classes fill up / timing makes so that to get all of the needed filler and fluff classes you need 5 years to do what used to be done in 4.

      • This happened to me too. I had to take off a semester to get surgery, spending about 6 months on crutches (birth-defect, long story). There was a class I was required to take that was only offered every-other semester....which just so happened to be the one that I missed. Not only that, this class was a pre-req for other classes. What should have taken me 4 1/2 years to complete actually took 5 1/2.

    • Re:Take Your Time (Score:5, Interesting)

      by charon69 ( 458608 ) on Tuesday May 03, 2016 @12:13PM (#52036793)

      It took me 5 years to graduate as well... because I co-oped with the same engineering company 4x times.

      Yeah, I never got a "summer break" after my Freshman year, but it was *soooo* worth it.

      First off, my resume showed a year+ of actual engineering work before I'd even graduated.

      Second, I got to swap around every semester that I was co-oping, so I did everything from Product Qualification to Tech Support to actual software-design.

      Third, the semesters co-oping got me a ton of cash. May more than I'd make working 2x semesters at minimum wage.

      And as for "never having a break", work is a hell of a lot less difficult than school. You work 8-5... and then you're *free*! Go bowling with your other co-workers. Head to a movie with your new-found money. Whatever. I got more than enough "rest" during my co-op semesters.

      Oh, and that company with which I co-oped? They treated their co-op program as an extended interview session. They knew *exactly* who they wanted to hire full-time after those co-ops graduated. Easiest interview I ever did. They already knew they were gonna make me an offer before I even went on-site again. It was just a question of which department wanted me the most.

      • Identical experience here. Getting an internship almost guarantees a job after graduation, especially from a company that you interned with.

        You go through orientation, get a desk beside people you've worked with before, know where the cafeteria is and how to fill out a time card. Nobody has to show you anything and not only are you immediately productive, but you know all the latest technologies and are still a few years away from burnout and coasting the remainder or your career.

    • Getting out of school after 5 years with job experience is probably better than getting out in 4 without it.

      This is almost certainly true. However money is the reason why most people load themselves with 22 credit semesters (certainly it is why I did it). You pay by the credit hour until you are a full time student, then you just pay tuition (somewhere around 12 credits). If you can handle 22 credits, you can save a year of tuition: that's an awful lot of money in some schools. By an awful lot, I mean re

    • I've never had an employer ask me why it took 5 years to graduate as opposed to 4.

      An extra year or two isn't a big deal these days. If you take 12 years to graduate with a bachelor degree, expect questions. I've known a few people like that who had a hard time living down the ultimate slacker reputation.

  • So what you're saying is (Score:5, Insightful)

    by q4Fry ( 1322209 ) on Tuesday May 03, 2016 @11:57AM (#52036593)

    They're complaining that going from a stressful high school schedule straight to a stressful college schedule is bad, and students should take a break for a year... but now there's this organization who wants those students to have programming (in the generic non-computer sense) in that interstitial year and accredits the programming?

    • Sounds less like a true break for the benefit of the student's future, and more like a way to create a market for these organizations, not a bad thing if it serves the students well, but it is marketed under a false pretense. Call it an alternative form of learning.

  • Good and bad... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by gfxguy ( 98788 ) on Tuesday May 03, 2016 @11:57AM (#52036603)
    If you come from a wealthy family and travel the world for a year, it's probably a great way to decide what direction you want to take in life. If you come a not very wealthy family, you'll likely beach bum or play video games for a year, losing a lot of what you learned in high school, or get stuck in a rut, low-income job that is convenient to not quit (and make you less likely to actually go to college at all).

    • Re:Good and bad... (Score:5, Informative)

      by pr100 ( 653298 ) on Tuesday May 03, 2016 @12:07PM (#52036715)

      In the UK (at least) it's usual to have your university place lined up already, so it's unlikely that you won't go.

      It's quite common for kids to spend a few months working first to get the money to spend on a few months travelling. Of course they'll usually be living rent free with parents whilst working so their life is subsided - but that's just a continuation of the arrangement whilst they were in school.

      It's become very common here now although when I started university (33 years ago) it's wasn't a thing. For some kids it's a really good idea, for others ... not so much.

    • Being at one time employed at a university as a student, I saw firsthand a number of utterly miserable people working in the same building as me. They started off as student employees, landed a full time job, were captivated by the better pay and benefits, started families, and were hooked on the very jobs they had learned to hate.

      They had at one time had different dreams, but the "easy road" of a job that paid then and there was too much to resist, leading them to never do the very thing they had gone to s

      • I see the same thing at private engineering companies. I don't know if those people really hate their jobs, but they would ave a difficult time leaving and finding a similarly paying position. Or worse, if they got laid off.

    • or get stuck in a rut, low-income job that is convenient to not quit (and make you less likely to actually go to college at all).

      Sounds crappy, but it beats taking 6 years of college, changing your major 5 times due to falling GPA, graduating with an unemployable degree, and getting stuck in the same job rut but this time with 6 years worth of student debt. Not everyone is cut out for college, and I'd hope the year off allows a few people to either realize they're happier without going and/or figure out what they want to do so they don't spend expensive years floundering.

    • I don't think that's how a gap year normally works.

      I worked a bit and also got aid from my local rotary club to volunteer teach math's and computing in India where the school gave me board and lodging.

      You can travel abroad in your gap tear while poor pretty easily.

    • or get stuck in a rut, low-income job that is convenient to not quit (and make you less likely to actually go to college at all).

      There are plenty of people who turn out that way even with their college degree either because their degree is useless for most jobs that don't require low-skill labor or because even though they have a degree in a high-skill profession they treated all four years of their university education like a "gap" year and partied all the time and didn't really learn anything.

      If a person wants to just hang out and party after high school, they should just go live near campus, work a low-income job, and party wit

    • ...losing a lot of what you learned in high school...

      This, all by itself, is the best argument for waiting a year (or three, like I did way back when) before entering college. High school is little more than social programming, something that should be thoroughly forgotten in order to give someone a fair shot at a future.

  • The trend towards the traditional "gap year" (spend Daddy's money for a year before going to college) has been on the decline in the UK since 2012 or so. Going to university is a more expensive proposition here than it used to be (though still a long way short of US levels and mostly loan-funded) and spending a year fannying around before getting it over with has lost some of the appeal. Plus, of course, the whole concept came in for some fairly relentless pisstaking [youtube.com].

    There are still a fair few who take a

    • There are still a fair few who take a year out of studying before going to university, but that's mostly for the purposes of working to earn money to help with fees and living costs.

      heh, I assumed that's what a gap year was.

  • I could have used this (Score:5, Informative)

    by xxxJonBoyxxx ( 565205 ) on Tuesday May 03, 2016 @12:03PM (#52036665)
    I went right out of high school at the age of 17 into an Ivy League school and pretty much went through a stress/depression meltdown, after which I left school. It took me about a year sitting at home to get motivated enough to try college again, but when I did, I pretty much ran the tables, graduating at the top of my classes in both undergrad and (after a few years off to pay off what hadn't been covered by scholarships and have kids) then grad school. However, the road back wasn't easy - working up to 64 hours a week while taking a 19-credit load and graduating at the undergraduate level with two degrees from a no-name school so I could demonstrate my freshman year was a fluke. It would have been a lot less expensive, stressful and risky to just have taken a year off before jumping into college, and my career would likely have been different with a few more connections from my original school.

  • Are they hoping they'll grow up some more? (Score:3)

    by JudgeFurious ( 455868 ) on Tuesday May 03, 2016 @12:04PM (#52036687)
    With all the noise about kids these days having to be handled with kid gloves maybe they're just hoping the extra year might make incoming students a little more mature, maybe a little more thick-skinned?

  • Finding a job to help pay for that college could prove beneficial down the road when those lovely student loan sharks come knocking on your door. If presented the chance I would encourage everyone to find anyway possible to reduce the amount of money borrowed for school - even to go as far as to continue working ones way through school. Naturally not everyone is in this boat, but for many they are. I took 6 years to earn my Bachelors , it did not hurt me later. It may not be a lot of money, but every bit he

    • Meh, mod points are over rated.

      I want to share a story that impacted me when it took longer than planned to graduate. Here in the US, if you go to a school outside of your state you pay "out of state tuition," that's roughly double what in state students pay. Now here's the thing, to get in state tuition you must have lived in the state for a year, without going to university. My scholarship made up for the difference, but for anyone without one of those it's definitely cheaper to take a gap year and liv

  • Only a year? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by twotacocombo ( 1529393 ) on Tuesday May 03, 2016 @12:10PM (#52036757)
    I took 9 gap years between high school and college. I didn't know what the hell I wanted to do with my life, and I was beyond burnt out with high school. I spent those years working shitty jobs for shitty pay with shitty people. Doing dreg work for 9 years let me figure out what I didn't want to do with my life, and motivated me to go back to school and start a career. I banged out a degree with straight 4.0s and never looked back. If I had tried this a year after getting out of HS, there's no way I could have pulled off those grades or that major, and I probably wouldn't be in the (better) position that I'm in now. I wouldn't suggest everyone wait 9 years, especially in this economy, but do wait to go to college until your heart and mind are into it, and you have an actual goal. Just going to say you've gone is going to leave you with a useless piece of paper and a shit ton of debt.

    • Sometimes it takes a long season in the desert to really help focus one's goals and provide ample motivation to do whatever it takes to reach them. Some people are born knowing what they want to 'do' in life, others not so much. I suppose as long as the path leads to a good place in the end, it all pans out the same. Life provides all of us plenty of chances to learn and grow, in both hard times and good.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by iczer1 ( 991037 )
      I did pretty much the same thing after high school. After a few years of working thankless, low paying, no future jobs, the company I worked for went bankrupt. I took the opportunity to go to college and got straight A's. I never would have been able to do that right out of high school as I didn't have the right attitude and the right motivation.
  • It must be wonderful being the child of the obscenely wealth. I like Obama and his daughter's are very nice but the whole thing about the gap year just stinks of the privilege that most just do not have.

    • I worked to earn some money, got some financial help from the local rotary club, and flew to India to volunteer teaching maths and computing for 8 months in a school that provided board and lodging.

      Not a millionaire. Zero financial help from parents except food and lodging while I worked.

      A poor kid like me who works for my gap tear gets a lot more out of it than a rich kid who just goofs off around the world.

    • It must be wonderful being the child of the obscenely wealth. I like Obama and his daughter's are very nice but the whole thing about the gap year just stinks of the privilege that most just do not have.

      I got burned out and was running low on money in college so I took a "gap year" by taking a coop with Hewlett Packard. That was the only way I could take a break and still hold onto my financial aid and scholarships. It worked out well for me as I was able to come back with money in the bank and the motivation to finish the rest of my school. I also had a standing offer of employment after I graduated from HP although I didn't end up taking it. Although I would have likely needed some type of job, I wou

  • Here are a few songs about my "gap year".

    https://youtu.be/WeYsTmIzjkw [youtu.be]

    https://youtu.be/KlujizeNNQM [youtu.be]

    https://youtu.be/lPFC3Xs0eKw [youtu.be]

  • Mind the Gap, Skip University (Score:5, Interesting)

    by mbeckman ( 645148 ) on Tuesday May 03, 2016 @12:24PM (#52036925)
    The traditional University is a dying educational model. It no longer delivers value for the tens of thousands of dollars required in tuition and living expenses. My recommendation: save that money and attend distance learning and massive online courseware from the comfort and inexpense of your home. Eschew the silly social constructs of campus life for real social interactions with the adult world. Universities will morph into excellent content producers. Or they will die. And the next generation will all live more mature, debt free lives.

    • Traditional college does have some merit. I remember hearing Elon Musk say this on 20 Under 20:

      "College is a great place to meet girls...that's why I went"

    • The traditional University is a dying educational model. It no longer delivers value for the tens of thousands of dollars required in tuition and living expenses. My recommendation: save that money and attend distance learning and massive online courseware from the comfort and inexpense of your home.

      Yes, because someone who has a bunch of MOOC certificates and no college credits or degrees is the person who goes to the top of my "Must Hire" pile of 2,000 resumes. The only people who come close to that level of obvious competence are the people who learned "Flash" programming getting an associates degree at DeVry University because they like video games and knew they were going to write the next best seller.

  • when you can't afford to finish.

  • How about doing a "gap year" in community college instead? That way you establish a college track record, leading to easier acceptance, and scholarships. Plus community college is much cheaper than full college, and everything will transfer.

  • I know just how millennials can spend that gap year. The armed forced or civil service (like AmeriCorps) like many other nations in the world. Obviously keep the people who are just there because they are required to mostly segregated from the people who are in the military are a career.

    Before you all shout "But Freedoms!". We can already be drafted through selective service until we're 25 (generally under dire situations). And we all have obligations that are legally required like jury duty.

    If Bernie wants everyone to have free college, maybe we should get free graffiti removal from prospective college students through a civil service program?
    Maybe double time for kids from affluent families since they will have it so easy for the rest of their life ;-)

    (like everything else, there would be exceptions for disability or hardships.)

  • and then rest of the year in service. In return, you get 2 years of junior college tuition paid for (or similar amount applied towards regular college tuition). This would be an easy way to get a number of kids back in shape and have them available for a real war.

  • So now I have to pay for a year of vacation? (Score:3)

    by HockeyPuck ( 141947 ) on Tuesday May 03, 2016 @12:46PM (#52037239)

    So I just finished raising my kids, and will be helping them with their college tuition (much is coming from scholarships). And now I'm expected to foot the bill for a year while they "find themselves" in Europe, Africa or Tibet?

    No doubt there's a whole industry around planning and taking my money for my kids to travel around the world or build sandcastles..

    In my day, "gap year" was known as Summer Vacation. #GetOffMyLawn

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by augustw ( 785088 )

      And now I'm expected to foot the bill for a year while they "find themselves" in Europe, Africa or Tibet?

      Yeah, that's why gap years aren't actually a "British tradition" - they're an "upper middle class British tradition".

  • I graduated from the eighth grade with a college-level reading comprehension and fifth-grade levels in everything else. I stayed home for four years to teach myself, spent two years working in construction with my father, and went to community college for four years (two years for remedial courses, two years for A.A. degree in General Education.) A decade after I left community college, I went back to learn computer programming, got a 4.0 GPA in my coursework, and started my technical career. I have no regr

  • One of the themes for a gap is to allow the young person to learn how to organise themselves with regard travel, accommodation and earnings. That things don't just happen, they need to be planned, delegating this to some service industry is missing much of the point.

  • I have 3 daughters, 2 of college age and one graduating next year from high school, and college is expensive AF. But you know what? If they want to take a "gap year", more power to them! I did, in between the AA degree and transferring to a 4 year college. It's been a looooong year -- I never did go back. But I encourage them to do what they feel is best for them.

    So long as they pay for it.

    The agreement I have with them is this: I have been paying into college funds for over two decades now. So long a

  • I thought it took 3 years to get a bachelors in the UK, in the USA, this would mean it would take 5 years to graduate...

  • I spent a year mopping floors and cleaning bathrooms at McDonald's.

  • Every year that a person waits to save for retirement costs them serious money. At this age, these people should be educated enough to realize that they need to start working ASAP for self sustenance and to start saving retirement. It also speaks to the entitlement of that generation as well. Are they working during the year off from school? I doubt the majority are.

    Unfortunately at the same the government is classifying people as old as 26 as kids/dependents so they can continue living at home and not earn

  • Gap year can be a marvelous tool. (Score:3)

    by tlambert ( 566799 ) on Tuesday May 03, 2016 @01:49PM (#52037793)

    Gap year can be a marvelous tool.

    When you take a gap year, you free up the scholarship you got, so that someone more deserving, because they are willing to apply themselves, gets it instead.

    Then, when you are ready to go to college, you can apply for the scholarship and not get it, because they've given preference to new high school graduates over non-traditional students (which you now are).

    Then you can take out student loans to pay for your stupidity^W^Wcollege, just like everyone who didn't qualify for a scholarship in the first place.

    Unless, you know, you're the son or daughter of millionaires willing to foot the bill.

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